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We know there’s a lot to prepare before your baby comes home. The most important on your to-do list should be related to safety. This includes babyproofing your home and installing a car seat. Don’t know where to start when it comes to shopping for and installing a car seat? We’ve got you covered. Keep reading for everything you need to know.

Requirements by Age

Newborn to two years – (and weighing under 20 pounds) should be in a rear-facing car seat.

Two to four year-olds – should switch to a convertible seat after they outgrow the height/weight limit of the infant one. There’s a little debate when it comes to when to switch from rear-facing to forward-facing. Parenting.com and Consumer Reports recommend staying rear-facing until age two.

Children under age 8 – and under 40 pounds must be secured in a car seat at all times.

Age 12 – Kids should sit in the back seat until age 12.

Shopping for the Safest Car Seat

A car seat is something that you definitely want to have before the baby arrives, so it’s time to get shopping!

The most important tip is to buy new. Buy a new, not used car seat to ensure that it’s up-to-date with all of the most recent technological improvements. While all car seats have been tested for safety standards, everyone still wants to know which one is the absolute safest. Baby Bargains does a great job of rating all types of car seats in different price ranges.

Infant Seat v.s. Convertible Car Seat

There are two types of car seats available to you for newborns. A rear-facing infant seat is used just in the first year. On the other hand, a convertible seat starts rear-facing, but can then be turned to the front and adjusted as your little one grows up. Choosing a convertible seat will save you money down the road, however convertible seats typically can’t be removed easily from your car like infant seats. The convenience of moving your sleeping baby in their seat usually leads most parents to purchase an infant seat for the first year (Parents.com).

Installation

Each car seat comes with its own unique installation manual. In today’s technological world, some companies will even direct you to a Youtube tutorial. Make sure to read the manual before you try to install the seat. It’s also a good idea to just keep that manual in your glove box or somewhere else in your car so you know where it is.

A common mistake is forgetting to put the seatbelt in lock mode if your car doesn’t have self-locking ones. Since car seat installation is complicated and there’s so much room for mistakes, it’s not a bad idea to have a professional inspection. You can use Parents Central’s Inspection Station Locator to search for the nearest technician.

We hope that this guide has been helpful. Have you already started shopping and have an additional tip to share? Comment below!

We love to show off the work of our amazingly talented photographers. Take a minute to enjoy the slideshow below. Check back each month to see more unique and beautiful photos. Congratulations to all winners and honorable mentions!

Your baby’s first birthday is a major milestone that calls for an extra special celebration. Whether you host a small or large birthday party, the day should be fun and memorable for your family and guests. Here are 10 unusual and adorable celebration and gift ideas to get your creativity flowing.

Play off of the fact that time flies during your baby’s first year with a fun aviation-themed party. You can have a “check-in” for guests to drop off gifts and a “baggage claim” to collect party favors. Vintage luggage makes for great decor.

This is a great theme because it works for both genders and involves simple decorations. Think maps, globes, and lots of color. You can have your guests write a special message for your child inside the cover of the Dr. Seuss book.

A milk and cookies party makes your food straightforward and hassle-free. Guests won’t be expecting a full meal if you make the theme clear on your invite. Stick to a blue and brown color story for decor and food. Old-fashioned milk bottles are an extra detail that your guests will love! Consider gluten-free or dairy-free options for guests with dietary restrictions.

For your baby girl or boy who loves animals and adventure, turn your home into a jungle safari. DIY a jungle cruiser and backdrop for guests to take photos. Tons of stuffed animals, animal crackers, and bananas are just a few ideas to get you started.

Your one-year old probably has plenty of toys, so ask guests to instead bring one meaningful item to place in a time capsule that will be opened on your child’s 18th birthday. Suggest writing a letter with predictions or advice for the future.

Ask guests to bring a favorite book or two to add to your baby’s library. They’ll be reading and writing before you know it! Share a Google spreadsheet via email so that guests can share the books they plan to bring and avoid duplicates.

An elephant themed party is a classic for a reason. The decor is cute and sweet, and can be adjusted to your preferences. Choose one or two colors to make your party cohesive. This theme also works for a girl or boy. Or, swap out elephants for your baby’s favorite animal and center your party around that.

Take a girly pink, red, and lime green color scheme one step further with an all strawberry theme. There are so many great food and drink options – strawberry lemonade, anyone? This is an especially great theme for summer parties.

Your little one is the little star of the party, so you might as well run with that theme. Choose neutral colors accented with plenty of gold of glitter. Cake toppers and star wands are easy to DIY. Showcase photos from your baby’s first year at the party.

Start planning early and enlist the help of a friend to eliminate unnecessary stress. Take one more task off your plate by scheduling a first year photoshoot with Bella Baby. Our talented photographers will capture this special moment in your child’s life with high-quality, creative images. You can gift a photo as a party favor to relatives who attend the celebration.

Congratulations! You spent nine months preparing and planning. And now you’ve made it home with your newborn! If you’re anything like most parents, you feel the exhaustion of a job well done, and it feels daunting to think that there is more work ahead of you.

We want to make the transition as easy as possible for you. Parenting your newborn should be about savoring moments, not feeling stressed. Take a deep breath, and take it one day at a time.

You can thrive during your first week with a newborn with these nine tips

Accept Help

If you are lucky enough to have a community of people who want to help you, let them. Now is not the time to be a hero. Say yes to offers of a home cooked meal, free babysitting for your other little ones, and any other acts of kindness that come your way. It takes a village to raise a child, and that village can start contributing on the first day.

Take it Easy

You’ve just had a baby. And now you’re home and making it through the first days with feedings, diaper changes and naps. Don’t expect to cross anything off your to-do list this week (and maybe the next several, as well). Your focus should be on the baby and yourself. There is always time later to get back to that to-do list.

Write it Down

With the lack of sleep you are most likely getting, it’s hard to remember anything. Many parents find tracking tools useful in helping remember the last feeding (and if breastfeeding, which side you started with last time) and how many wet/dirty diapers the baby has had each day. Eat Sleep,Baby Connect and Baby Log are a few of our favorites, but there are many options out there, so find the one that best fits your needs.

Trust Your Gut

Whether this is your first or seventh time bringing home an infant, know that some things cannot be taught. There are some things that you just know. Trust your gut. Don’t ignore the inklings, the nudges, or the internal warnings. More often than not, your intuition will lead you where you need to go, and it will only get more accurate as you continue your parenting journey.

Cherish This Moment

The first weeks of parenting a newborn are a whirlwind. Before you know it, your newborn will no longer be an infant. Take a couple of minutes each day to reflect on what’s happened, the good, the bad and the ugly and keep a journal of your parenting journey and/or your little ones milestones. As everyone says, time flies by and you may want to look back and reflect on the memories of what day-to-day life was really like with a newborn. Try The Five Minute Journal or the Day One app for memory tracking.

Build Your Tribe

You will have innumerable questions during your first week with your infant, ranging from “Does this look normal to you?” to “Will I ever stop feeling so overwhelmed?” Find the people and resources who will be your go-tos when you’re not sure what to do. Everyone has advice for parents, and it’s up to you to decide who is worth listening to. Your tribe will probably consist of a mix of doctors, family members, close friends, books, and online resources. We can’t tell you what people to include in your tribe, but we can suggest a few of our favorite digital resources:

The Bump: This website will answer most of your questions about newborns and connect you with a community of other parents through their message boards

Scary Mommy: The pieces on this website will make you laugh, cry, and most importantly, realize that you are not alone in the craziness that is parenthood

Parenting: It’s all in the name. Consider this a catchall resource for your parenting questions

Communicate

It’s all too easy to get caught up in the busyness of diapers and feedings, completely forgetting that you have a partner in raising this child. You both are running on very little sleep and a lot of adrenaline. Communicating well may take more energy than usual, but it will save you effort in the long run. Be clear about how you are feeling. Are you discouraged? Do you need your partner to handle the next diaper change so you can take a shower? Are you noticing a negative behavior trend that needs to change? Set an expectation of transparency so that you can both find joy in parenting rather than resentment.

Rethink Productivity

You may have breezed through to-do lists in the past, and now it feels like changing clothes is an accomplishment. That’s okay. Having a newborn will alter your idea of productivity. Caring for your new baby is now the number one item on your to-do list. Everything else will happen at a slower rate. If there are tasks you must finish this week, schedule only one per day. Remind yourself that making it through another day with your newborn is an accomplishment in and of itself.

Be You

One of the best gifts you can give your child and your partner is the gift of yourself. Savor your role as the parent of a newborn. Give yourself and your partner at least five minutes a day to do one thing that energizes you, whether that’s playing a song on your instrument, taking a hot shower in peace, or making progress on a puzzle. A little bit of “you time” each day will go a long way in helping you avoid parent burnout.

You can step confidently into your first week with a new baby, knowing that there is always more to learn. This time with your newborn will be both awe-inspiring and challenging, and the best thing you can do is savor each day.

Did you survive your first week with an infant? Share your tips below!

The phrase, “Pics or it didn’t happen”, started on online message boards when users made farfetched claims that couldn’t be verified without photographic proof. Today that phrase is part of society’s ethos. Did you really go on vacation, eat a trendy meal, or get married if there isn’t at least one picturesque photo to show for it?

Babies take this craze to a whole other level. We all have that friend who posts naked pictures of their little one on a weekly basis. On the other hand, you likely have friends that live in other cities, and you wish you saw updates about their children more frequently on social media.

Today, parents need to create their own rules of engagement around that they will and will not share about their child on the internet. It’s best to make these decisions well before the due date.

Discuss these three questions as you draw your own boundary lines:

Will we make our child’s life public on the internet?

Who will be allowed to see photos of our child on the internet? (ie; Will we create a private Facebook group for family and friends?)

Are there any types of photos that we’ll never publicly share on the internet?

These clear guidelines allow you and your partner to enjoy taking photos that are meaningful to you rather than blindly following trends. With those boundaries in mind, you’re ready to start planning an epic, yet tasteful, social media birth announcement. There’s an option for every parental privacy preference.

Here are our six favorite ideas for social media birth announcements

The status update

If you’ve decided to keep your child’s life more private, or if you don’t want to worry about crafting an epic announcement of your baby’s birth, consider a simple status update. This option allows you to focus on savoring your first moments with your newborn, and you can save the pictures for your closest family and friends.

The private announcement

We can control who sees our social media content, and it’s a right that we often forget to exercise. There are several ways for you to share a post-birth photo with a target audience of your choosing. Consider creating a private Facebook group for your inner circle or a group chat in Messenger, Instagram or Snapchat. Instagram and Facebook also allow you to exclude certain people from viewing a post. The private birth announcement is a nice middle ground between not sharing photos at all and sharing photos to the world.

The sneak preview

You’re just getting to know your little one’s face, and you may not want everyone to see it just yet. That’s understandable! Why not post a photo of your newborn’s tiny hands or feet? Our Priceless Little Pieces photos are cherished by our clients. Your friends and family will see just enough of your new baby to fall in love.

The mother and child shot

There are two questions that loved ones ask after the baby’s birth. “Is the baby healthy?”, and “How is mom doing?” You can answer both questions with one picture. There’s a certain magic in a picture of a mother and child in the calm after the chaos of birth. Maybe it’s the look of love in the mother’s eyes. Maybe it’s the post-birth glow. Because it is an intimate shot, and it’s impossible to predict how you’ll feel in the moment, have a backup birth announcement photo planned.

The family shot

Your baby is the newest addition to your family. Show exactly where your newborn fits in by using a family photo for your social media birth announcement. We’ve captured countless new family photos, and they never cease to warm our hearts. From parents marveling at their newborn to siblings experience their little brother or sister for the first time, these photos are an ideal way to introduce your new baby to your circle.

Multi-photo announcement

Sometimes you’re so enraptured by your little one, that you can’t choose just one photo. You don’t have to! Create a Facebook album or make use of the multi-photo gallery on Instagram, and share away. There are also several collage apps that are a parent’s best friend. Try Pic Collage or PicArt to put all of your favorite photos in one place.

These ideas will help you announce your baby’s birth on social media while staying true to your own privacy preferences. Nothing beats the convenience of having a photographer come to the hospital to capture the beauty of your newborn. If you’ll be DIYing your photos, here are a few tips:

Clothe your child. Your newborn can only wear those tiny outfits for so long, and not everyone wants to see a naked baby in their newsfeed. A fully clothed photo will probably garner a more positive response.

Keep it simple. It’s trendy to use props in birth announcement photos, but you’ll be tired from giving birth. Don’t waste your energy on styling a perfect photo.

When it doubt, go black and white. Hospital lighting can be weird. If your photo doesn’t look the way you want it to, know that a black and white filter can work wonders.

How did you announce your new baby’s birth on social media? Are there any boundaries that you set? We want to know! Share them in the comments below.